The Stanley Cup Playoffs continued yesterday with three games. The Boston Bruins played the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Dallas Stars played the Vegas Golden Knights. The Edmonton Oilers played the Los Angeles Kings. There are only two games going on tonight. The Florida Panthers are playing the Tampa Bay Lightning. The New York Islanders will take on the New York Islanders. The Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes will both have the opportunity to take three game series leads.
The Boston Bruins took on the Toronto Maple Leafs in game three of their first round series. The series was tied at 1-1. The Bruins won game one 5-1. The Maple leafs won game two 3-2. This was the first game in Toronto after the first two games were in Boston. Neither team scored in the first period. The score was tied at 0-0 going into the second period.
With just under seven minutes to go in the second period, #23 Matthew Knies scored to giv the Toronto Maple Leafs the lead. His goal was assisted by #16 Mitch Marner and #20 Joel Edmundson. With just over two minutes left in the period, #11 Trent Frederic scored for the Bruins to tie the game. His goal was assisted by #39 Morgan Geekie and #27 Hampus Lindholm. The score was tied at 1-1 going into the third period.
#74 Jake Debrusk scored just over a minute into the third period. His goal gave the Bruins the lead. #63 Brad Marchand and #13 Charlie Coyle got assists on the go ahead goal. The Maple Leafs tied the game with eight minutes to go in the game. #59 Tyler Bertuzzi scored the goal with #44 Morgan Rielly and #11 Max Domi getting the assists. Twenty eight seconds later the Bruins retook the lead with a goal from #63 Brad Marchand. His goal was assisted by #43 Danton Heinen. With under a minute to go #63 Brad Marchand scored his second goal of the game. It was assisted by #88 David Pastrnak. The final score was 4-2 Bruins. The Boston Bruins now have a 2-1 series lead.
The Bruins retake the series lead. This game was a close one. The Maple Leafs are not going down without a fight. The next game in this series is a must win for the Maple Leafs. If they lose game four, they will have the almost impossible task of winning two playoff games in Boston to win the series.
Game four of this series will be on Saturday, April 27th. Puck Drop is set for 5:00 PM. That game will be in Toronto.
The Dallas Stars took on the Vegas Golden Knights for game two of their first round series. The Golden Knights had a 1-0 series lead after they won the first game 4-3. This game was in Dallas. The Stars opened up the scoring with a goal from #21 Jason Robertson. He scored with just over three minutes left in the first period. His goal was assisted by #4 Miro Heiskanen and #14 Jamie Benn. Just over a minute later, #81 Jonathan Marchessault scored for the Golden Knights to tie the game. His tying goal was assisted by #9 Jack Eichel and #49 Ivan Barbashev. The first period ended in a tie with the score at 1-1.
With just over a minute left in the second period the Golden Knights took the lead. #15 Noah Hanifin scored an unassisted goal to make the score 2-1. The Golden Knights would hang onto the lead after the second period.
With thirty four seconds left in the third period, #9 Jack Eichel scored an empty net goal for the Golden Knights. His goal would seal the win for the Golden Knights. His goal was assisted by #81 Jonathan Marchessault. The final score was 3-1 Golden Knights. The Vegas Golden Knights now have a 3-0 series lead over the Dallas Stars.
This was a close game. It was tied or one team had a one goal lead for most of the game. The Stars scored but the Golden Knights had the answer. The Stars didn’t have an answer for the Golden Knights second period goal. Like in game one, the Golden Knights took the lead and did not give it up. It will be interesting to see how the Stars respond in game three. With the series now heading to Vegas, the Star have their toughest challenge of the season in the next two games. They are heading into one of the toughest places to play in the NHL.
Game three of this series will be on Saturday, April 27th. Puck drop is set for 7:30 PM. The game will be in Vegas.
The Edmonton Oilers took on the Los Angeles Kings in game two of their first round series. The Oilers lead the series 1-0 coming into this game after they won game one 7-4. This game was in Edmonton. The Kings opened the scoring four minutes in after a goal from #9 Adrian Kempe. #11 Anze Kopitar got the assist. With five minutes to go in the first period, the Kings scored to take a two goal lead. #9 Adrian Kempe scored again. #11 Anze Kopitar got the assist again. With two minutes to go the Oilers scored to bring the lead back down to one goal. #27 Brett Kulak scored with #29 Leon Draisaitl and #37 Warren Foegele getting the assists. Twenty nine seconds later the Kings scored again. #8 Drew Doughty scored to get their lead back up to two goals. #33 Viktor Arvidsson and #24 Philip Danault got the assists. The first period ended with the Kings leading 3-1.
With tweleve minutes left in the second period, #55 Dylan Holloway scored for the Oilers to get the lead back down to one goal. His goal was assisted by #39 Sam Carrick and #13 Mattias Janmark. Three minutes later #18 Zach Hyman scored for the Oilers to tie the game. #29 Leon Draisaitl and #97 Connor McDavid got the assists. The score was tied at 3-3 heading into the third period.
Under two minutes into the third period #22 Kevin Fiala scored for the Kings to give them the lead again. #21 Jordan Spence and #55 Quinton Byfield got the assists. Two minutes later, #55 Dylan Holloway scored his second goal of the game for the Oilers to tie the game. His goal was assisted by #13 Mattias Janmark. The third period ended in a tie. The score was 4-4 and the game went into overtime.
Just over two minutes into overtime #11 Anze Kopitar scored to give the Kings the win. His goal was assisted by #55 Quinton Byfield and #44 Mikey Anderson. The final score was 5-4 Kings. The series is now tied at 1-1.
This game was another close game. It was a battle to the end. With every lead the Kings got, the Oilers had the answere until the end. Overtime games are always exciting. With the series tied up heading to Los Angeles this series is going to continue to be exciting. Both teams have scored four or more goals in both games. This series will continue to be about offense. The Oilers erased the Kings two goal lead twice. No lead is safe in this series. Despite the Kings getting the win, that is an area of this series the Kings need to be concerned about.
Game three of this series will be on Friday, April 26th. Puck Drop is set for 7:30 PM. That game will be in Los Angeles.
The Panthers are playing the Tampa Bay Lighting. It is game three of their first round series. The Panthers lead the series 2-0 after winning the first two games. This game is in Tampa Bay. Puck drop is set for 4:00 PM. Will the Panthers continue to find a way to win? Will the home crowd boost the Lightning to their first win of the playoffs?
In the only other game today the Carolina Hurricanes will play the New York Islanders in game three of their series. The Hurricanes have a 2-0 series lead after winning both games in Carolina. This is the first game of the series in New York. Puck drop is scheduled for 4:30 PM. Will the Hurricanes continue to dominate? Will the Islanders have a string response after back to back losses and having more misconducts in the third period of the last game than shots in the third period?
Zac Electrifly 